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Published: October 10th 2006
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This morning we woke relatively early, ate our baked goods and went to my favorite beach on St. Thomas: Lindquist Bay. Lindquist is one of the few undeveloped beaches on the island, and this has been controversial recently. All beaches in the Virgin Islands are public, and landowners must provide reasonable access to the public over land. Lindquist was bought by a large US developer, fences were put up, and several years of lock and fence cutting took place on the trail to the beach. Now, the fence is open for pedestrian traffic, and a security guard actually sits (naps) there and makes sure no cars drive in. Apparently the people are trying to take the land under eminent domain and keep the beach undeveloped. Despite the local popularity of the beach, on a weekday, we were the only ones there.
I feel that Lindquist has the best sand on any beach in the world. Up top, the sand is like flour, while near the water it has a foamy quality that allows you to sink in over two inches. It must be based on the shape of the sand grains, the slope of the beach and the waves that
causes it to stack up without packing too much. Most of you know that I have been to many, many beaches and consider myself somewhat of an expert. I will be testing my theory over the next few months and will attempt to come up with a "top 10 beach list" from our trip.
Historical Footnote: The last time we went to Lindquist in Dec. 03, the gates were up and locked so we had to bushwhack our way through the jungle to the beach. We had a fantastic time (again, beach to ourselves). On the way back through the bush to the car, J encountered a hornet's nest. In his battle with the hornets, two things happened: 1) he got stung smack between the eyes, and 2) he threw the car keys into the bush!! In the next five minutes while we contemplated how to get to the car with the hornets in our path, CM racked up over 30 mosquito bites. We walked down the road to a hotel and the manager took pity on us. While CM rested inside with a bottle of water, J and "Mac" headed back to the bush with a machete and
a can of Raid. An hour later, they had cleared a massive area but did not find the keys. We ended up having the car towed to the dealership and having another key made. What a mess, but the sand was worth it all!!
So that you know how to find Lindquist should you ever vacation in St. Thomas, I will be providing GPS coordinates shortly. I bought a GPS for the trip, and have been experimenting with overlaying our tracks on Google maps. This means we will have a graphical, navigable, zoomable record of everywhere we go, down to 30 feet or less. I have also been experimenting with attaching the GPS coordinates to my photos based on synchronized time between my camera and the GPS receiver. This will allow photos to be placed along the track showing the exact time and location they were taken wherever we are in the world. I hope to work this all out when we have a few days of solid Internet access and cloudy days.
I should mention a few other local drinks that we searched for. We unsuccessfully looked for mame', a local beverage flavored with tree bark. Usually
the mobile food vendors (roach coaches) carry this along with the local treat of pate' that is really more like a fried meat pie. We did however find "peanut punch" at a local barbershop. I had never had this before; it is apparently made with peanut butter and milk, and tastes like peanut eggnog.
While our island hosts were at work we walked around town again and ate lunch at the Green House, which is a bar right on the waterfront. Our waitress had a Marine Corps tattoo, so we took a picture of it. The Green House has after hours contests like "wet t-shirt" and "bikini" when willing tourists are in town, but today it was pretty mellow.
After work, we packed quickly and the four of us took the 30 minute car ferry to the neighboring island of St. John for an overnight stay. This ferry is not like those in washington state, but rather like an open air barge that runs ashore and you back the car on. We arrived in time to go to Caneel Bay to watch the sunset and get bitten by no-see-ums. Caneel Bay is a very exclusive (to the tune
of $500 per night) hotel, but as beaches in the VI are all public, we were able to go there with no problem. Plus, our pasty white skin just screams tourist. Our favorite restaurant, The Fish Trap, was closed for a couple weeks, but it too is highly recommended.
The four of us stayed the night at the Westin Virgin Grand. None of us had been swimming in a pool for quite a while, so we had a night swim at the hotel's awesome pool. Two more things about the hotel: last time we stayed here, we saw Kenny Chesney (we didn't know who he was either), and the beach here is "fake" - manufactured with sand from nearby Anguilla.
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